Surpised it took you this long. If you are content with that performance yesterday, and this season in general then I think the distance is too great for any middle ground for the conversation. Credit where credit is due Roy got the result. But for me that type of performance is totally unacceptable. We were lucky, we all know it. Lets not dress it up that it suddenly vindicates Roys approach to the game of football. However he has it appears been able to fire up the lads to put in a performance. Shape and putting their bodies on the line wise they gave everything.

Is this the same freedom that caused us to lose 7 games in a row at the back end of last season, after beating Bournemouth and achieving 'safety'?

Far from shabby? Two touches in the opposition box last night. 3-0 home defeat against Burnley last week, 3-0 loss to 10 man Villa, 7-0 vs Liverpool! 1 point from 8 games in the run in at the end of last. What planet are you on?

Each season, Woy has finished in a lower position in the league, with him at the helm the best period in our history has ended by a greedy old b****** who's sole aim is to rob the club of £4.5m each year.

His negative set up will avoid relegation, but when you look at the other candidates avoiding relegation shouldn't be an issue.

We've got 13 games left, 9 of them are against sides in the top 10. If you think setting up like that every week will work then you truly don't know anything about sport.

You're tedious and tiresome post never identify anything he is doing right with the team to justify him keeping his huge salary. You clearly just identify with an old talentless man who's failed at life.

This is exactly what I was talking about the other day. Those backing Roy to the hilt seem to think that we are asking for a revolution and a totally new way of playing. This couldn’t be further from the truth. We are looking for gradual improvement and all we are seeing is the side getting worse. The signs have been there for the last two seasons and I’m really not sure why some think there are no issues.

We were not playing like this in the first 18 months of Roy’s tenure and we will not stay in this league if we have the same team (minus Zaha) and the same manager next season.

I agree with this and I would put this to Bigtoepunt, who I have a lot of time for. I could usually accept Royball because of the results. Now I find it difficult to watch to unwatchable regardless of the scores. Last night was different because of the rivalry and the importance of this stage of the season and the league table. This season is different and it hasn’t bothered me if I’ve missed any matches or lost concentration or interest watching any of them. It’s the same thing over and over apart from the brief highlights.

For me this is the absolute heart and crux of the matter.

I think you can split football into two stratas: Anti football and good football. I don't buy the idea that we could do something slightly, but not fundamentally different and be any better for it.

The difference between us, Burnley, Pulis Stoke, Newcastle, Allardyce's sides etc is just shades of grey. Its anti-football. Brighton, Norwich, Southampton, Fulham etc play differently to each other, but they are all very much on the other side of the divide from us. They play good football.

As I've said many times, I believe the available evidence shows the better football a club our size plays, the greater the chance of losing and ultimately of relegation, whilst the best bet for staying up is to play anti-football. The only downside is that you have to watch it. And by 'watch' I mean endure. Tolerate. Suffer. Which, to my mind, we have.

It's totally new experience for us as Palace fans. What we are watching is, to my mind, not incompetence, or inadequacy, or hope, or momentum, or uncertainty - all the things I have associated with Palace for decades of watching them. We are watching, for the first time, dull stability, predictability, a little cynicism perhaps, a cold professionalism. The former is full of emotion, the latter devoid of it.

As I've said before, this must be how Coventry fans felt for all those years. It raises exactly the big question you cite.

I think Parish has learnt all of this too. As a fan I'm sure he wants better football as much as us, but as the person responsible for the club he has to use his head as much as his heart.

On one hand, if he gambles and ditches the anti-football, we could go down. Will the new stand be viable then? Will we get the best youngsters for the academy? Will he have failed to extract the maximum benefit and legacy for future generations from this unprecedented time in the sun? I wouldn't want that on my shoulders.

Ultimately though, stick with the anti-football any longer and what is it all for? It's like saving your pennies all your life and never having any fun. Why even develop the academy and build a stand, and keep on keeping on if the only way we can play is like we have under Pulis, Warnock, Allardyce and Hodgson?

At some point Parish must envisage us being worth watching, and the clubs plan is to hang on in there for long enough to grow, then go again in a different form. Are we there yet? I doubt it, but can we wait any longer? I doubt that too.

My heart sings a little at the idea of Howe or Cooper, for all their obvious faults, whilst it sinks a little at the idea of Roy, or Dyche for the same reasons as you. Does that make a new approach the right one though?

Edited by TheBigToePunt (23 Feb 2021 1.31pm)